Clown Loach (Botia macracanthus)

Love my clown loaches but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that they can be holy terror to planted tanks. As they get larger, they will uproot anything. You might get away with plants that can be tied down or floating plants.

I also noticed that my clown loachs were not eating the snails in my tank(i have MASS numbers of rams horn) Until one day i cracked one of the snails shells and my loachs went nuts eating it! i guess some loachs just are lazy and don't wanna work for their meal!lol

I hope it is ok to post this in this forum.
My Clown Loaches have ick. Any suggestions. I have gradually raised my temp to 85 degrees. Have 3 tbsp. of salt/ 5 gal. in my tank. I have been treating with Maracide for 7 days. A rainbow started with the ick. It died. The loaches showed up with it 3-4 days ago. Umm, I have a planted tank, 40 gal. Oh, and I have done one water change about 4 days ago- 50%.
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? They are more sluggish than usual but active. Showing interest in food but not really eating. One was hanging at the top all day yesterday but moving around some today. Possibly an improvement there. We will see. Also, they have developed a milky look in addition to the spots. Oh, and now that the one has slowed down some, I can see that one appears to have a small, white sore in its mouth. Noticed the sore right after I purchased the loach but was never able to see it well enough to know if I was imagining things. Sooooo, any advice? Thanks.

85 degrees is kinda hot even for clowns. That might be why they are sluggish. If they still appear to have ich after awhile at that temp, it's not ich. Ich can't really survive above 80. I keep my clowns at 81 because of this (they are really prone to it).
I have not had any problems with them uprooting plants. Mine are about 4in atm. Substrate is gravel rather than sand sized so that may have something to do with it. The real problem with them and plants is that they are big active brute that knock the crap out of any plant in their regular swimming areas. I've attempted to solve this by creating a "loach area" at one end of the tank. About 300 gph waterflow from a vertical spray bar filter outflow in the area and no plants. In a corner, cause they like to go up and down the glass sides. They sorta like it. Probably could use some hornwort above the area anchored to stay above the area so it's more shaded.

please help i have 9 clown loaches i had nitrite spike caused by filter i have corrected this now but they started flicking against things my local fish shop it will be ich so he gave me esha exit so i dosed them on full dose and left them in dark for days turned heating up to 82 they stopped flicking after 3rd day so on day five they wernt flicking in dark but now ive turned light on they starting to flick with light on why is this

I love my loaches. 3 small (5cm) loaches cleaned out a snail infested tank in just 3 weeks. I never catch them doing it but I can hear a clicking noise they make when sucking a difficult snail. They need some places to hide when they get shy. They are active fish but hide only when I come up to the glass of the tank. At 5cm they don't touch my plants at all.

Not really ideal for beginners with smaller tanks. If kept long term they can outgrow most tanks. Loaches.com recommends 75 gallons or more. If you get one of these guys when they are smaller for a smaller tank (less than 75 gals) be prepared that at some point in the future (could be years, not sure how fast they grow) you will need a bigger tank or find someone else or lfs to rehome it. IMO Zebra loaches are an excellent choice for tanks under 75 gallons.

Have a nice school of 4 clown loaches in my 55g, I know they'll outgrow it eventually but they do grow very slowly. I used to have a snail infestation but these guys took care of it quite nicely. Now I have a very sizable population of Malaysian Trumpet Snails which the Clown Loaches apparently leave alone. It's fantastic, all the bad, plant eating snails are gone, but the good ones are totally fine! Rarely works out like that

clown loaches are so cool. Thay grow surpriingly fast when they are small. I got mine at a little over an inch, to months later and they have almost doubled in size. I treated them for ich with coppersafe. I slowly brought them up to the full dose over a couple of days. Now they are ich free and loving life.

Some things to note: Clown loaches, though slow growers, WILL GET HUGE. I believe they can get up to a foot in length. A good alternative is the Yoyo loach; essentially the same fish but much smaller. If you have a snail problem they are perfect, but keep in mind that they are not a solitary fish and should be kept in groups no less than three.

I love my clown loaches. I have had my largest, around 6 inches, for over 7 years now. I have 4 others in a 72. They do grow slowly. They will eat almost anything and have quite a few quirky behaviors. Watch out for decorations that have small crevices as they will bury themselves in them. I've had one get stuck and injury himself so I filled all gaps with mesh to keep it from happening again.

Amazing bottom dwellers! Shy at first by hiding like they're invisible when newly introduced to an aquarium. These little guys will dig around for food all the time and when they aren't they're living up to their name as a "clown!" Playing follow the leader, sleeping by laying down on their side, and much more. For them to be happiest, they need to be in a group of 3 or more. Though some report them being well below the recommended number. I have 2 and they're extremely happy by themselves, begging for food every time I walk up to my aquarium.They'll eat anything, mine particularly like hard boiled egg whites. As much as I loved my clown loach, they have issues with plants, even to the invincible anubias. These amazing fish are known to wreck havoc in a planted aquarium, poking holes in the toughest plant leaves.